Arad questions Iran on enrichment

On Sunday, Russia delivered the first shipment of enriched uranium fuel rods to the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, Iran. Despite United Nations sanctions barring Iran from enriching uranium, Iran has maintained that enrichment will proceed, even after the fuel receipts from Russia.

“I think that the position taken, that with the supply of such fuel there is no real urgent need for Iran to obtain enriched uranium, is a very valid point and it should be stressed,” Arad said. “And in fact the supply of this fuel has become, in a way, a test.”

Speaking in Moscow at a news conference for the International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, Arad spoke of a “sense of alarm” among his colleagues at the lack of attention paid to non-proliferation compared to other global concerns, like climate change.